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Chesnok Red seed garlic

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Chesnok Red is a purple-stripe hardneck from the village of Shvelisi in the Republic of Georgia, and it's also sold as 'Shvelisi'. Bulbs are large, with about 8 to 12 cloves. The clove skins and wrappers are streaked and blotched with purple, and the inner wrappers are fuchsia.

It's best known as a roasting garlic: roasted, it turns sweet, with a smooth texture. Raw, it's strong and rich, and some find it too hot. Cured well, bulbs keep about six months, a little longer if they're kept dry.

Purple-stripe garlics are very cold-hardy, which suits a New England winter. Plant cloves in mid-fall. It sends up a scape in early summer: cut it once it has curled, which sends more energy to the bulb, and use the scape in pesto. See our Massachusetts garlic planting guide.

Part of our Hardneck seed garlic for New England. Also: Spanish Roja seed garlic · Georgian Crystal seed garlic · Siberian seed garlic · Purple Glazer seed garlic · Metechi seed garlic · Inchelium Red seed garlic · Killarney Red seed garlic · Music seed garlic · German White seed garlic · Russian Red seed garlic.